In a content oriented network (CON), a content router is responsible for routing user requests and content to proper recipients. In the CON, a domain-wide unique name is assigned to each entity that is part of a content delivery framework. The entities may comprise data content, such as video clips or web pages, and/or infrastructure elements, such as routers, switches, or servers. The content router uses name prefixes, which can be full content names or proper prefixes of content names instead of network addresses, to route content packets within the content network.
In CONs, content delivery including publishing, requesting, managing (e.g., modification, deletion, etc.) may be based on content name and not content location. One aspect of CONs that may be different from traditional Internet Protocol (IP) networks is the ability of CONs to interconnect multiple geographical points and cache content temporarily or on a more persistent basis. This may allow content to be served from the network instead of an original server, and thus may substantially improve the user experience.